Crumbled Memories
by lavvender
Summary: Haruhi has returned to Japan after graduating, however, after a terrible break-up, the young girl has withdrawn. Hikaru decides to take it upon himself to cheer Haruhi up, but when a surprise visit to her apartment goes awry, could it lead to new beginnings or could it cause heartbreak? (oneshot)


Haruhi sighed as she swirled her coffee. Hikaru had asked her to meet him here, yet he was, ten minutes late. She'd returned from America some months ago, but still hadn't fully unpacked. Haruhi knew she needed to do it, but couldn't bring herself to dig through the photos of her and Tamaki. The bell above the door tinkled, dragging her out of her reverie.

"Haruhi, hey, how have you been? You haven't returned any of my calls. Kaoru and I are worried." He sat down across from her.

"Oh, I'm fine. Classes are going well. How are you?" she tugged nervously at her hair, hoping he'd let the subject change.

"Great, actually, Kaoru and I are doing fine without classes, but it isn't the same without you. We share a few, you know? You never even look at us." He removed her hand from her hair.

"Haruhi, please talk to me, what's wrong?" She sighed, knowing he wasn't going to let this go.

"It's just that I always told myself that I wouldn't be the kind of girl that mopes around all day over a break up. I mean, I cut my hair short again and told myself I was moving on."

"Haruhi..." He took her hand in his, instantly knowing what she was talking about.

"It's okay to be sad over breaking up with Tamaki. I just can't stand to see you isolate yourself over it. The others can't, either. Mori-senpai sees you sometimes in between classes and the way he says you... like you're dead to everything... It just breaks my heart."

"Hikaru, I don't want-," she started. Suddenly a loud song erupted from Hikaru's phone. He pulled one of his hands away and removed it from his pocket.

"It's Kaoru, I have to take this." He gave her an apologetic look and walked a few steps away from their booth. Haruhi watched him talking, he was frowning, probably just something to do with schoolwork. She sighed, still lost in thought when he returned.

"Haruhiiiii? Haruhi are you in there?" He waved his hand in front of her.

"I have to go. Kaoru is freaking out over our presentation for fashion history tomorrow, I'm sorry."

"It's okay; I'll see you in class." She offered a weak smile as they stood to leave.

She freed herself from the booth when he pulled her into a sudden hug. He held her tightly for a moment. He released her, and they walked out the door together.

Hikaru watched her as she walked off in the direction of her apartment.

•—•—•

Haruhi stirred from her sleep. Someone was banging on her door.

"Haruhi, If you don't open this door immediately I'll break it down!"

"We'll do it, Haruhi! Open up!"

She groaned, what could those twins want on a Saturday morning. She didn't even know they were capable of being up so early. The obnoxious banging continued right up until she opened the door.

"Good morning Haruhi!" they spoke in unison, pushing past her into the tiny studio, she groaned again.

"What do you guys want?"

"We came to– whoa! Hikaru look she has photos with us"

"What? Where? Aww Haruhi do you loooove us?"

"No! And stop going through my things!" She rushed towards them, hoping they wouldn't get to photos of her and Tamaki buried at the bottom, but it was too late.

"Hey, Hikaru, look at these. They're photos of Tamaki and Haruhi. Isn't this from our trip to Italy?" He handed the photo to his twin brother

"Oh look there's a bunch in here! Hikaru, look! Hikaru?"

•—•—•

His duplicate stared silently at the photo. It felt like ages as he looked longingly, eyes boring into the image. He could form no words, instead smashing the stiff paper into his fist, unconsciously balling his other hand. The glossy photo jabbed into his fist, but the anger welling up inside him kept the painful feeling away.

Everything seemed to go silent aside from the loud _"ba-dum ba-dum"_ of his beating heart- which he was sure anyone could hear within a mile radius. Then, all at once, all the noise came back into life. He could hear the loud _"vrrr-vrrring"_ from an old coffee machine as if jetted into a small pot, and the beeping of an alarm in another room, _Haruhi's room_. Everything felt like it was crashing down, the fragile walls of Hikaru's life caving in with him still inside.

Suddenly, he turned, spinning on his heel and before Hikaru knew what he was doing he powered past his brother and straight out the door. His fists remained balled into themselves, the grotesque image dropped onto the floor and out of his sight. The door slammed shut and he leaned against it, grateful to release himself from the confined space. He could vaguely hear shouting from inside, his quick breathing making him light headed.

"Kaoru, calm down. Waking up my land-lord isn't going to do us any good. I'll go talk to him, but you need to relax. Everything will be okay," uncertainty leaked into her voice.

•—•—•

"Hikaru? Are you still out here?" Haruhi's eyes fluttered about, surveying the parking lot. Across the street, she could see a fiery head of hair on a bench. He must've wandered into the park. She walked quickly over to his spot. The urgent footsteps shook Hikaru out of his thoughts, lifting his head from his hands to inspect the sound.

"Haruhi, I'm fine. It's nothing; I just lost my cool for a second, that's all." She sat next to him, large eyes speaking the words she couldn't seem to form. They told him they knew it was a lie, but she understood if he didn't want to share.

"It's just," he started, sensing the nervousness in stiffly seated body. "Seeing you with him, with _Tamaki,_ it just makes me so angry. He was always flirting with someone, even if he didn't know he was."

"Hikaru... I don't understand, why do you care so much about Tamaki and I's relationship? We're over, surely the boxes of photos and gifts from him left unpacked show that. I can't even bring myself to touch them, to look at them, to _remember_ them." Her voice trailed off, unsure what else to say.

"Haruhi, I care so much because... because I like you!"

"Hikaru, I like you too. Why wouldn't I?"

"No, Haruhi I mean I _like_ you."

He added extra emphasis to his words, hoping the eyes boring holds info his heart would understand. When they didn't, he couldn't take it anymore. His feelings taking control of his ability to reason, he cupped her face in his hands and leaned over, kissing her soft lips. They were soft, so much softer than Hikaru could ever imagine, and they tasted like strawberry lip balm.

She sat stunned momentarily, but returned the kiss whole-heartedly, weaving her fingers into his perfectly mussed up hair. Haruhi decided, then, to stop crying over the past. It was time to move on, and no longer live in a dream that would never happen again. She needed to be in the present, and the present was kissing her, meshing his lips with hers, but pulling away all too soon.

"Haruhi... Does this mean," his voice trailed away, finishing the question for him.

"I don't know, but I know I'm done crying over something I don't have anymore. Can we... Can we take it slow, at least for now?"

She stared intently into his eyes, even has he stood up. Hikaru held his hand out, and let a heavy breath escape his lips.

"Okay. I can do slow." She took his hand in standing up, but not parting their now laced fingers.

"We should get back, Hikaru. Kaoru is probably pacing a hole into my floor." They laughed lightly, crossing the street towards the apartment, and to a newly budding relationship.

**A/N:** This is my first fic ever so I really hope you like it! I want to thank one of my really awesome best friends for helping out a lot when I got stuck, or needed help in finding the right word. She writes band imagines on her Instagram page ( becausecutebands). Please review your thoughts and any constructive criticism, I'm very new to writing and any tips are very appreciated.


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